Virginia Supreme Court to Consider Property Ownership Dispute re Break Away Episcopal Parishes

I have written about this issue before and, it is sad that the Circuit Court that heard the original case involving the efforts of anti-gay elements in some Northern Virginia Episcopal parishes relied on a 1860's vintage statute in order to rule in favor of the break away elements. The statute in question was passed by the Virginia General Assembly in the 1860's to allow pro-slavery parishes of denominations - predominately Baptist parishes that became part of the Southern Baptist Convention - to abscond with the anti-slavery national denomination's property. Personally, I'd be more than a little embarrassed that if I needed to rely on a pro-slavery statute to prevail, not to mention that the break away elements of the Episcopal Church have aligned themselves with stridently homophobic and anti-modernity bishops within the Anglican Communion in Africa. Some, like Nigeria's Archbishop Peter Akinola, are thought to have possibly condoned the murder of Muslims, including women and children. How these break away elements view themselves as "good Christians" under these circumstances is more than a bit baffling to me. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:

*

A years-long, multi-million-dollar land battle between the Episcopal Church in Virginia and conservatives who broke away from the denomination is headed back to court. The Virginia Supreme Court said today that it would hear an appeal by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia (which includes primarily northern and eastern Virginia) and the national church, which got clobbered in Fairfax Circuit Court last year.

*

Other religious denominations, from Presbyterians to Conservative Judaism, are having similar disputes over human sexuality, and some have wound up in court battles over property rights. The legal issues are not exactly the same as in the Virginia case, but a few rulings this summer have mostly gone in favor of the denomination.

*

The Virginia case also refers to a centuries-old code - a state statute called 57.9 that governs how church land is divided when there is a split in the congregation. It essentially says a majority vote of members is decisive.

*
The Episcopal Church argued that the congregations never legally "divided," but rather a conservative faction (albeit the majority of members of those congregations) chose to leave, joining Anglican branches in Africa. But the judge sided with the breakaway members and ruled there was a division, thus making 57.9 applicable - and the majority votes.

*
But the Episcopal denomination's argument is that, according to its internal rules, congregants can't just democratically vote their churches out of the denomination. Unlike Baptists, who are congregational, Episcopalians are hierarchical, which means church officials -- not individual congregations -- hold the land in trust. The denomination says state statute 57.9 is unconstitutional because it tells religious organizations how to govern their affairs, illegally mixing church and state.

*

It's one of the most watched disputes of its kind in the country, primarily because so much money and land is at stake.

*

To me, it is most telling that the modern day hate-filled bigots of the break away Episcopal elements are relying on a 140+ year old statute enacted to benefit previous hate-filled bigots in their effort to basically steal church property. Maybe these folks need to take a good long look at themselves in the mirror. Do they care nothing about how they will be viewed by future generations that will equate them with pro-slavery and segregationist racists?